Note 336 — Chapter XI

The convention was signed on the 3rd of July, 1815 (vide ‘Hertslet’s Treaties,’ vol. ii. p. 386); but so far as regards the great questions on which differences had arisen it settled nothing. It professed, indeed, to adjust the question of the north-east boundary; but this point was not arranged until many years afterwards, the two countries having been previously on the point of rupture. The north-west boundary, afterwards known as the Oregon dispute, was left in statu quo. Neither party cared to agitate the impressment question, although the Americans had at one period made this the chief ground for going to war. Both parties made a barren declaration, that they were desirous of continuing their efforts to promote the entire abolition of the slave-trade. The vapourings about neutral rights, with which the world had been nauseated for a number of years, were buried in silence, to be resuscitated whenever a national cry of agitation might be necessary for electioneering purposes. The question about blockade was set aside just in the like manner. The American claims relating to the impressment of seamen fell to the ground; and, with the exception of the Paris Declaration of 1856, the rights of neutrals, to a large extent, remain undecided to this day. The boundary question was deferred, not decided upon; and in 1834, as the award of the empire, the King of the Netherlands, did not satisfy either party, both refused to abide by it, and it was only settled by the award of the Emperor of Germany in 1872.